Lego models - very dusty

[rara67]

Please can I have some suggestions as to how I can dust them please? I cant take them apart (Star wars mainly and hours to out back together) but they are all filthy and I need to clean between the nodules on the bricks/pieces without putting too much pressure on them

Do you have a brush fitting for the end of the nozzle on your vacuum cleaner? Works a treat :-)

A soft-bristled paintbrush and a lot of time...

I thought Lego was such a good idea...

I have sometimes bought second hand lego and I wash it before use by putting the bricks (all broken up) into a bowl of hot water and washing up liquid then rinsing them and laying them all out to dry. I can't see how you can clean them without taking the models apart if they are that dirty. Can't you just break them up and if the kids want the models they'll have to build them again?

Have you tried a hair dryer? Best to do it outside. Also works amazingly for artifical flowers.

Thanks - will give those suggestions a try (but with hairdryer on low setting just in case!)

Put a pair of tights over the end of hoover nossle and the hoover on low suck setting. Or dust with a paintbrush, or put them away in childs bedroom, shut the door and dont look at them...

OMG. Anyone who has children who keep the models once they've made them once (or rather, got me to make them once) is beyond my world view

Sorry, I'd get the kids to break them up, wash and put them all in a huge plastic carton. (ours is about 2ft3 long, about 20" high with a lid)

A blast with a steam cleaner, if you have one?

Just for the record, these are not "free-hand" model made of the usual oblong bricks (they do get broken up and put in the box). This is serious Star Wars stuff, some of it costs up to £80. You make it, play with it carefully then display it. DH also has the VW camper 1300+ pieces, I will not be suggesting breaking that up when it starts to get a bit dusty!

I know your pain! My son collects star wars lego. He goes made if I touch it, let alone trying to clean it without it falling apart!

If they are all plastic, could you not just start by dunking the whole thing in a soapy bowl of water and letting it soak?

We have the complicated Lego models too, but they still get boxed away, I keep the instruction guides, so they can be remade.

We have star wars Lego, harry potter Lego etc etC, thousands of pounds worth of Lego it still gets broken up, we keep the booklets so they can remake stuff if they want. Lego is the bane of my life...

We have super expensive Lego too, but it rarely gets made up and kept, more fun to then take it apart and build new wierd and wonderful things, that is the whole point of Lego imo.

The only thing that has ever stayed together is Hogwarts Castle, because it gets played with as a castle.

Everything else is broken up and lives in an enormous storage box.

My DS has a Technic Lego Motorcycle. It took so long to build there was no chance that it would ever be broken up! I occasionally dunk it in some soapy water and leave to stand on a towel to dry.

A damp paintbrush works a treat ;-)

I used to spray gently with a garden hose in the bath, then brush with small paintbrush, rinse again and leave to dry. Ah, happy days, I miss the Lego years!

Small paintbrush.

I used to spray built models with detergent and rinse using the shower - but put something in the plughole in case any small bits came adrift.

Use a canister of air - the same sort of thing you'd use to clean a computer.